Rochester Wrestlers Fall in Team State Semifinal Round

The Rochester Falcons ended their state championship wrestling bid over the weekend, falling to Detroit Catholic Central in the semifinals in Battle Creek.

It was Rochester's first time advancing to the state finals.

The Falcons faced injuries during the regular season which lead to losses to 11 ranked teams this season. The Falcons were finally back, mostly healthy and ready for the state tournament.

Perennial powerhouse Temperance Bedford (26-3) was making an "as-usual" appearance in the quarterfinals and had already defeated Rochester by a point earlier in the season.  

Rochester, finally back at full strength, upset the Kicking Mules in the postseason by winning 10 of 14 matches and rallying back from an early 15-6 deficit.  The Falcons pulled off six straight match wins from 140-189 and captured eight of the last 10 matches to pull off the victory.

Rochester then moved on to Detroit Catholic Central, returning champions and favored to win this year. 

The two teams went back and forth in the early matches, each team winning three of the first six contests. Rochester's Shawn Shadaia, wrestling at 215, picked up a decision over DCC's Jay Peterson while  Justin Kim, at 112 picked off Parker O'Brien with a major decision, and Josh Wood at 125 over Evan Toth in a decision. After that, Kaelan Richards was the only other Falcon to get a win. 

DCC went on to defeat Davison High School in an epic final battle for the 2013 MHSAA State Title. It is DCC’s second straight MHSAA title and tenth overall.

Rochester will send six total wrestlers to the MHSAA Individual State Finals at the Palace of Auburn Hills next week. 

Those wrestlers are No. 4 Ranked Senior Justin Kim (112),  No. 1 Ranked Senior Josh Wood (125), No. 2 Ranked Senior Kaelan Richards (140),  No. 3 Ranked Senior Dean Vettese (160) and No. 1 Ranked Junior Shawn Shadaia (189).